The Farol de Santa Marta is one of the oldest lighthouses in Brazil, built in 1891 on a wild headland about 20 km south of Imbituba near Laguna. Getting there requires an unpaved road and a short walk, which is most of the reason the landscape around it has stayed intact. The headland itself is dramatic — wind-blasted grass, black rocks dropping to the sea, and views along a stretch of coast with almost no visible development. It's the kind of place that makes you realize how much of the Brazilian coastline has been built up, because this piece hasn't been.
At the base of the lighthouse is a small fishing village that sustains itself on the same terms it always has. In whale season (May to November), the headland is an excellent spot to scan the water — the whales pass close to the promontory on their way through. The lighthouse can be visited as a half-day trip from Imbituba, combined with time in Laguna, a colonial port town with a good historic center that's worth a walk on the way through.